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Detecting coal fires with a

neural network to reduce
the effect of solar radiation
on Landsat Thematic Mapper
thermal infrared images
a b a
W. Deng , Y. Q. Wan & R. C. Zhao
a
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering , Northwestern Polytechnical
University , Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072, China
b
Aerophotogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Center of China Coal , Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710054,
China
Published online: 25 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: W. Deng , Y. Q. Wan & R. C. Zhao (2001) Detecting coal fires
with a neural network to reduce the effect of solar radiation on Landsat Thematic
Mapper thermal infrared images, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 22:6,
933-944, DOI: 10.1080/014311601300074469

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/014311601300074469

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 int. j. remote sensing, 2001, vol. 22, no. 6, 933± 944

Detecting coal ® res with a neural network to reduce the eVect of solar
radiation on Landsat Thematic Mapper thermal infrared images

W. DENG
Downloaded by [NWFP University of Engineering & Technology - Peshawar] at 00:46 20 June 2014

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical

University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China; e-mail: dengwei.nwpu@263.net

Y. Q. WAN
Aerophotogrammetry and Remote Sensing Center of China Coal, Xi’an,
Shaanxi 710054, China

and R. C. ZHAO
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical
University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China

(Received 13 April 1999; in ® nal form 2 November 1999)

Abstract. Coal ® res in the north of China have already resulted in serious
problems, including huge losses in coal resources, air pollution and so on. Thermal
infrared images by Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) can be used to detect some
thermal anomalies. However, an initial necessity is to reduce the eVect of solar
radiation on TM thermal infrared images. In this paper, a neural network is used
to set up a mathematical model of ground temperature for the ® rst time. After
the neural network completes training, we can use it to calculate the ground
temperature caused by solar radiation. Thus, the result can be used to reduce the
eVect of solar radiation on TM thermal infrared images, and extract the thermal
anomalies caused by coal ® res.

1. Introduction
Coal ® res are widely prevalent in the north of China. They have already caused
huge losses in resources and pose a serious environmental problem. To monitor and
extinguish coal ® res, the ® rst step is to detect their location and scale. Because of
the huge amounts of heat energy released by coal ® res, the resulting thermal anomal-
ies can be detected by using thermal infrared (IR) remote sensing technology. On
nocturnal aerial images it is relatively easy to discern coal ® res, because the eVect of
solar radiation is insigni® cant (Bhattacharya and Reddy 1994). However, nocturnal
aerial images are not available as often as Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) daytime
images for such a large area as the north of China.
To extract thermal information from Landsat TM images, Bartolucci (1988)
studied the atmospheric eVects on Landsat TM thermal IR data and pointed out
that the accurate temperatures of land cover may be obtained. Norman et al. (1994 )
described ® ve methods for extracting information about the surface energy budget
from a combination of satellite observations and various amounts of ancillary data.
Internationa l Journal of Remote Sensing
ISSN 0143-116 1 print/ISSN 1366-590 1 online Ñ 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
 934 W. Deng et al.

Wan and Zhang (1996) carried out some research about using a digital elevation
model (DEM) to reduce the eVect of solar radiation on Landsat TM thermal IR
images. Zhang (1997) also produced a method to evaluate the capability of Landsat
TM band 6 data for subpixel coal ® re detection. From the above work, it is clear
that ground surface temperature is aVected by two main factors, namely ground
undulation and surface re¯ ectivity. Ground undulation determines solar radiance
and sunlight exposure time of every ground surface point. It is a modelling problem
to develop a numerical simulation for better understanding of ground temperature
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as a function of solar radiance, sunlight exposure time and surface re¯ ectance. It is
a highly non-linear process. The conventional model-match is too arduous to
complete.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in neural networks (Rogers
and Kabrisky 1991). Neural networks present a new approach to analysing the
complicated nonlinear system. By using neural network techniques, pairs of known
input/output patterns are used to train a neural network. Once the neural network
training is complete, a set of new input patterns are then input to the neural network
to retrieve the corresponding output patterns. Yoshitomi et al. (1993) used a neural
network to retrieve the correlation lengths and variance from scattering from a
rough surface. Schweiger and Key (1997) used a neural network to estimate the
relationship between surface radiative ¯ uxes and brightness temperatures, as meas-
ured from satellite sensors. Further, Jin and Liu (1997) estimated biomass from
microwave imagery, while Wang and Dong (1997) estimated forest stand parameters
from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. Their success encourages us to
investigate the feasibility of retrieving the ground temperature from solar radiance,
sunlight exposure time and surface re¯ ectance by using a multiple-layered perceptron
neural network trained by some known sample patterns. If the retrieval of ground
temperature is possible, we can reduce the eVect of solar radiation on Landsat TM
thermal IR images and locate the coal ® re areas.

2. Methodology
The method of reducing solar radiation and detecting coal ® res consists of two
steps. First, we calculate the strength of solar radiation and generate a solar radiation
strength map. Secondly, we use the solar radiation strength map to correct the TM
thermal IR image. On the result map, we can pinpoint the thermal anomalies caused
by coal ® res.

2.1. Some factors aVecting ground temperature

Ground temperature is greatly aVected by solar illumination. Since terrain undu-
lation and surface re¯ ectance vary at diVerent points, there is a certain diVerence in
ground temperatures. This analysis does not take into account minor variations in
surface temperature caused by ambient moisture and wind. The thermal properties
of the surface materials also play a part in determining the surface temperature.
However, it is di cult for us to measure them. We shall consider this in future work.
2.1.1. Solar radiance
On the one hand, terrain undulation determines the solar radiance of ground
surfaces. If the sunlight is perpendicular to a surface, more luminance reaches the
surface, and the temperature will be high. Solar radiance is a term representing the
change of the angle between sunlight incidence direction and ground surface. Dave
 A new means to detect coal ® res 935

and Bernstein (1982) pointed out that change in luminance over a terrain is a
function of terrain slope, azimuth and altitude angle of the Sun. Furthermore, with
a formula, Yang (1988) computed the solar radiance at a given ground location from
gradient angle, slope angle, solar altitude angle and solar azimuth angle. In our
study, we also use this formula to calculate the solar radiance.
2.1.2. T he sunlight exposure time
On the other hand, terrain undulation also determines the sunlight exposure
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time. At the time of satellite overpass, some points on the ground surface may have
been illuminated for a long time, whereas other points may have been shaded. As
we know, the longer the exposure to sunlight, the higher the temperature of the
ground surface. The sunlight exposure time can be calculated from the gradient angle
and slope angle.
2.1.3. Surface re¯ ectance
Among the total amount of solar energy on a spot, the more that is re¯ ected,
the less heat energy is left. Thus, assuming the thermal properties of surface materials
are identical, the lower the surface re¯ ectance, the higher the ground surface temper-
ature. Surface re¯ ectance depends on surface materials and it can be determined
from data of TM bands 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Table 1 gives some sample data for solar radiance, sunlight exposure time, TM
bands 1, 2, 3 and 4 data and ground surface temperature obtained from ® eldwork.
Solar radiance was calculated from gradient angle, slope angle, solar altitude angle
and solar azimuth angle, and the sunlight exposure time was calculated from the
gradient angle and slope angle. All these points are not in coal ® re areas. They
represent all kinds of ground surface in the test area (diVerent surface material and
diVerent surface undulation) . They were acquired almost simultaneously with the
TM satellite overpass.
It is very clear from table 1 that, with the solar radiance increasing, there is an
obvious tendency for ground temperature to rise. The exposure to sunlight of point
8 and point 9 is longer. However, the temperature of point 8 and point 9 is lower.
The reason is that the solar radiance is lower at point 8 and point 9. The sunlight
exposure period is only one factor aVecting temperature; it is not a conclusive
determinant thereof. With the sunlight exposure time increasing, there is a general

Table 1. Sample data collected from ® eldwork in test area.

Re¯ ectance of TM (%)

Ground Solar Shining
Point temp. radiance time Band Band Band Band
no. (ß C) (%) ( h) 1 2 3 4 Average

1 37.5 83.74 4.57 13.3 16.9 23.1 25.9 19.800

2 36.5 83.02 4.15 13.5 16.6 23.8 25.5 19.850
3 40.2 96.75 5.00 19.6 23.4 34.2 36.5 28.425
4 46.5 96.60 5.18 15.3 19.2 29.4 30.5 23.600
5 41.1 98.01 6.10 27.2 29.6 33.8 37.9 32.125
6 40.5 97.51 6.12 23.2 27.2 38.8 42.4 32.900
7 44.0 95.12 6.05 18.2 21.9 32.6 35.3 27.000
8 31.0 50.07 6.10 7.3 8.40 13.6 14.0 10.825
9 32.2 60.44 6.10 10.2 12.1 16.5 18.2 14.250
10 33.5 70.34 5.25 21.5 24.5 34.1 37.8 29.475
 936 W. Deng et al.

tendency for ground temperature to rise. The solar radiance and sunlight exposure
time of point 3 and point 4 are almost the same. However, the temperature at point
4 is higher than that at point 3. The reason is that the ground re¯ ectance from TM
band 1 to band 4 is lower at point 4. The same relation exists between point 6 and
point 7. So it can be concluded that the lower the surface re¯ ectance, the higher the
ground temperature.
In all, the ground temperature is a function of the solar radiance, sunlight
exposure time and surface re¯ ectance of TM bands 1, 2, 3 and 4. However, it is very
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di cult for us to use a formula to express this relationship. The neural network is
a good method to solve non-linear problems. So we consider the data collected from
® eldwork in the test area as training patterns (table 1 is a training pattern compon-
ent). After the neural network is trained through the patterns, we can employ the
neural network to calculate the ground temperatures at all the points in the test area.

2.2. Main steps for reducing solar radiation on T M thermal IR image

Step 1. Calculating the gradient angle and slope angle with DEM.
Step 2. Calculating the altitude angle and azimuth angle of the sun.
Step 3. Estimating the solar radiance.
Step 4. Estimating the sunlight exposure time.
Step 5. Calculating the ground temperature with a trained neural network.
Step 6. Extracting thermal anomalies from TM thermal IR image.
The calculation of the ® rst four stages can be done with certain formulas (Wan
and Zhang 1996). A detailed discussion thereof is omitted here. In phase 5, we use
the data (table 1 is a part of it) as training patterns. When we ® nish training, the
results from the former four steps and the data of TM bands 1, 2, 3 and 4 can be
inputted into the neural network. So from the output node, we can obtain the solar
radiant ground temperature. In the ® nal step, we use the TM thermal IR image to
subtract the solar radiant ground temperature image. Thus, we can isolate the image
that only re¯ ects thermal anomalies from coal ® res.

2.3. Characteristics of neural networks

Neural networks are of value on several grounds in this paper. First, they are
adaptive: they can take data and learn from it. Thus, they infer solutions from the
data presented to them, often capturing quite subtle relationships. It is very di cult
to ® nd a formula and describe analytically the relationship between solar radiance,
sunlight exposure time, TM bands 1, 2, 3 and 4 data and ground temperature.
However, trained by samples, the neural network can arrive at the underlying
relationship and solve a problem that otherwise lacks existing solutions.
Secondly, neural networks can generalize: they can correctly process data that
only roughly corresponds to the data they were trained on originally. Similarly, they
can handle imperfect or incomplete data, providing a measure of fault tolerance.
Generalization is very useful in this coal ® re application because the training patterns
that we got from test areas are inevitably noisy.
Thirdly, the neural networks are nonlinear, in that they can capture complex
interactions among the input variables in a system. Neural networks are useful for
modelling nonlinear processes. In this system, solar radiance, sunlight exposure time
and data of TM bands 1, 2, 3 and 4 are not directly proportional to the ground
temperature.
 A new means to detect coal ® res 937

2.4. A three-layered perceptron neural network

There are typically six types of neural networks (Lippmann 1987). For this study,
a three-layered perceptron network was chosen. The three-layered neural network
was trained with the back-propagatio n algorithm (Rumelhart et al. 1986, Lippmann
1987, McClelland and Rumelhart 1988 ). The Rumelhart algorithm is an interactive
gradient descent algorithm designed to minimize the summed-squared error between
the actual outputs of the three-layered feed-forward perceptron and the desired
outputs. Because the error is considered as a smooth error function in the weight
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space, the iterative gradient descent algorithm can theoretically ® nd the global
minima of the error function, if properly executed.
The three-layered neural network that we used is shown in ® gure 1. The number
of input units is speci® ed with the dimension of the input patterns, and the number
of output units is equal to that of the output patterns. So the number of input units
is six, and the number of output units is one.
Kruschke (1988) studied the issue of exactly how many hidden units are needed
to accomplish a given mapping, using back-propagation . He gave several reasons
why the number of units had to be reduced. The ® rst is parsimony: both the amount
of computer space and the amount of complexity are reduced with a reduction in
the number of units. In addition, with fewer units, each unit is forced to compute
e ciently and no units are wasted. Another reason for keeping the number of hidden
units to a minimum is that generalization performance tends to be better when fewer
hidden units are present.
Kruschke considered the variant of back-propagatio n that included, for each
unit, a parameter called the gain in the activation rule. The activation rule is thus
a i = f (g i net i ) (1)
where a i is the output from node i, g i is the gain and net i is the input received by
node i. The function f is usually a nonlinear sigmoid function that is applied to the
weighted sum of inputs before the signal passes to the next layer. Kruschke noted
that a unit with zero gain had constant output, independent of the input received.
Also, as Kruschke showed mathematically, since the gain acts as a multiplicative

Figure 1. Construction of a neural network.

 938 W. Deng et al.

factor in the back-propagate d error, a unit with zero gain also propagates back
no error.
The gains are the attenuating factors. The gains compete with one another.
Kruschke considered two units redundant if their weight vectors were (nearly) parallel
or anti-parallel. Thus, with each adjustment of the weights, the gains are also
adjusted by
2
rž
S S S
Dgi = Õ cos x (Wi , Wj ) gj (2)
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Thus all the gains are decreasing by an amount that is a measure of the similarity
of their weight vector to all the others based on the square of the cosine of the angle
between the weight vectors, which is large when the vectors are close to parallel.
The most similar nodes diminish each other’s gains by the largest amount.
We used this algorithm to minimize the number of the hidden units. The algorithm
reduced the number of hidden units required to six, thereby creating a 6± 6± 1 neural
network.

2.5. Extensions to the learning algorithm

In the Rumelhart learning algorithm, the network output is compared with the
desired output and the error is computed. This error is then back-propagate d through
the network and, generally, the weights of the connections are altered according to
what is known as the generalized delta rule:
DW kj (n+ 1)= gdkOj + aDW kj (n) O i : output of the input unit
(3)
DW j i (n+ 1)= gdj O i + aDW j i (n) Oj : output of the input unit
where g and a denote a learning rate and a momentum parameter, respectively.
For our study, in order to improve the accuracy of ground temperature calculation
and accelerate the convergence of back-propagation , the following modi® cations
were made to the Rumelhart algorithm.
2.5.1. Batch processing
The network weights are not updated after each pattern is presented. Rather, the
weights are modi® ed only after all input patterns have been presented. After each
pattern is presented, all weight changes are calculated as usual through back-
propagation, but these changes are not immediately applied. Instead, we intend to
get the mean of the changes and the mean is applied to modify the weight after the
iteration over all the patterns. Thus the weight is updated by the follow rules:
1 N
DW kj = ž DW kj(m)
N m= 1
1 N
DW j i = ž DW (jmi )
N m= 1
(4)

where N represents the number of training patterns. Through this batch processing,
we can render the iteration fault close to the whole pattern set. Namely, we minimize
it to the whole pattern set, not just to one of the patterns.
2.5.2. T he adaptive learning rate
Vogl (1988 ) studied how to accelerate the convergence of back-propagatio n
method. He considered that the learning rate g varied according to whether or not
 A new means to detect coal ® res 939

iteration decreased the performance index (the total error for all patterns) . If an
update results in reduced total error, g is multiplied by a factor Q>1 for the next
iteration. If a step produces a network with a total error more than a few (typically,
1± 5) per cent above the previous value, all changes to the weights are rejected, g is
multiplied by a factor b<1, a is set equal to zero, and the step is repeated. When a
successful step is then taken, a is reset to its original value. The rationale behind this
manoeuvre is that as long as the topography of the terrain is relatively uniform and
the descent is in a relatively smooth line, the memory implicit in a will aid conver-
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gence. If, however, a step results in a degradation of the performance of the system,
then clearly the topography of the terrain demands a change in the direction of the
optimization, and prior experience (incorporated in the term in a will be more
misleading than bene® cial). Hence a is set to 0 so that memory from previous steps
is lost. Only after the network takes a step that reduces the total error will a again
assume a non-zero value.
We use the modi® ed back-propagatio n method to train the three-layer 6± 6± 1
neural network. For the test data, the Rumelhart back-propagatio n method using
values of g= 0.1 and a= 0.9 requires 2318 iterations while the modi® ed method
requires 984 iterations (the termination condition is the total learning error E<0.04 ).
Figure 2 shows the performance of the neural network using the modi® ed back-
propagation method.

3. Results
In order to test the results, we selected a mountain area which extends from
latitudes 43ß 40¾ to 43ß 48¾ N and longitudes 87ß 06¾ to 87ß 14¾ E. There is no vegetation

Figure 2. Convergence behaviour of neural network using the modi® ed back-propagation

method.
 940 W. Deng et al.

in the test area. The neural network training patterns were also collected from this
test area. Table 1 represents a portion of the training patterns. We use the method
of reducing solar radiation to detect the coal ® res on TM thermal IR image for a
part of the test area.
The digital elevation map of the subject part of the test area is displayed in
® gure 3. The highest points are located north-west of the area with the primary slope
direction towards the south-east. A three-dimensional view of the test area is provided
in ® gure 4; it is derived from the digital elevation model.
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The TM image of the subject part of the test area was acquired on 14 September
1994. Figure 5 shows a portion of the TM band 6 image. In ® gure 5, pixels with the
highest values correspond either to ® res or to ground surfaces that were perpendicular
to incoming solar radiation.
Figure 6 shows the image of solar radiant ground temperature, computed by the
neural network.
The image obtained by subtracting the simulated illumination image (® gure 6)
from the TM band 6 image (® gure 5 ) is provided in ® gure 7. Most of the pixels on
that image with the strongest solar illumination are dim, and pixels located in coal
® re areas remain bright.
The geometrically corrected nocturnal aerial thermal IR image of the same area
is shown in ® gure 8. According to ® eld investigations and image interpretation, all
the brighter areas found on ® gure 8 correspond to coal ® res. Brighter areas found
on ® gure 7 correspond to those on ® gure 8, as expected. This proves that we had
successfully reduced the eVect of solar radiation on TM thermal IR images.

Figure 3. Digital elevation map of the test area (Kelazha, Xinjiang China), the diVerence in
elevation from the highest to the lowest point is about 800 m.
 A new means to detect coal ® res 941
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Figure 4. Three-dimensional map, viewing the test area from the southeast corner of the
DTM.

Figure 5. Geometrically corrected Landsat TM band 6 (14 September 1994 ) over test area.
 942 W. Deng et al.
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Figure 6. Image of solar radiant ground temperature (data on validated by ® eld checks), the
solar azimuth and altitude angles are 127ß 25¾ and 36ß 30¾ for this image.

Figure 7. Image resulting from subtracting the image of solar radiant ground temperature
from TM band 6. The coal ® re areas are much clearer.
 A new means to detect coal ® res 943
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Figure 8. Geometrically corrected nocturnal aerial thermal IR image (30 July 1992) which
was merged from two strips.

4. Conclusions
The direct method to investigate a coal ® re is to use nocturnal aerial thermal IR
images. However, since limited resources can be deployed for such a project and
coal ® res are widely distributed in the north of China, this method becomes unfeasible.
Alternative approaches are being sought. One alternative is to use TM thermal IR
images. This paper shows that it is possible to reduce the eVect of solar radiation
on TM thermal IR images.
Surface temperatures out of coal ® re areas are mainly related to such variables
as the solar radiance, sunlight exposure time and ground re¯ ectance. In this paper,
we use a neural network to set up this mathematical model for the ® rst time. When
the neural network has been trained, we can use it to compute illumination image.
The result achieved by subtracting the simulated illumination image from the TM
thermal IR image is as good as nocturnal aerial thermal IR image for detecting
coal ® res.
Because the training patterns are collected from an entire test area and they
represent diVerent types of ground surface (diVerent surface material and diVerent
surface undulation), the neural network trained by them can compute the illumination
image for the entire test area. So, the neural network is not just targeted on one
image of a portion of the test area: it can be applied to a series of images of the
whole test area. As for other types of coal ® re areas in other locations, the ground
surface data may diVer. Therefore, to ensure the success of this approach, the new
training patterns collected from ® eldwork are crucial.
Although in our study we collected training patterns from ® eldwork, for some
regions we may merely select and collect data from some typical points at the ground
surface. If we want to monitor changes in the coal ® res dynamically, we need not
 944 A new means to detect coal ® res

do more ® eldwork, for which we can use the former solar ground temperature
calculated by the neural network to reduce the eVect of the solar radiation on TM
thermal IR images.

Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Aerophotogrammetr y and Remote Sensing
Center of China Coal.
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